Opposition Yamina sidles up to Netanyahu with proposal to ban probes of PMs

Despite being in the opposition, the right-wing Yamina party appears to be broadcasting a willingness to work for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announcing that it has introduced a proposal that would prevent the prosecution of a sitting prime minister except in serious cases.

The party says the law would prevent situations of the kind that they see now, in which the prime minister has trouble running the affairs of state, while also having to defend himself in court, giving the prosecution an edge, it says.

“Recently, we’ve borne testimony in the most concrete way to the heavy damage caused by investigations against a sitting prime minister to democracy, stability of the ruling powers and public trust in the law enforcement system, which is seen, rightly, as a political actor,” the party says, siding with Netanyahu, who has dismissed the allegations against him as a political witchhunt meant to oust him from power and undermine the will of the voting public.

The oft bandied, and rejected proposal is dubbed the “French Law,” after similar legislation that exists in the namesake country, though in France it is coupled with a term limit, which analysts say is the only way to keep it from turning into a legislative cover for unbridled law-breaking by a de facto dictator.